Primark ordered to pay £47k in transgender discrimination lawsuit

Primark has been ordered to pay almost £50,000 to a former employee who claimed she was discriminated against and harassed for being transgender.

The case involves former retail assistant Alexandra de Souza E Souza, who told the employment tribunal she had been humiliated by colleagues on several occasions at the brand’s Oxford Street store before being constructively dismissed.

The employment tribunal said Primark had failed to investigate the matter and to deal with it appropriately, and ordered it to pay the victim £47,433 in compensation to cover injury to feelings and loss of pay and pension contributions.

It also recommended Primark adopt new measures to protect the confidentiality of transgender employees, such as creating a new policy on how to deal with new or existing staff who are transgender, and updating its equality and harassment policies.

A spokesperson for Primark stressed the company’s commitment to being an equal opportunities employer.

“All policies relating to our people are based on fair treatment for all, to ensure the promotion and practice of equality of opportunity. We are extremely disappointed that on this occasion, our usual high standards in implementing these policies were not met and we sincerely apologise to the employee in question for this.”

The company pledged to review its internal policies and training to ensure similar issues never happen again.